CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team has found a felony charge just filed for a fan seriously hurt last year in the stands at a Cleveland Browns game.
This comes days after a fan threw a bottle of water and hit Browns owner Jimmy Haslam.
The felony charge comes for what happened at a game last December. Someone threw a can of beer and hit Stephanie Allen in the head, sending her to the hospital.
We had investigated why no one ever got charged even though the Browns used stadium cameras to identify a suspect.
Wednesday, Cuyahoga County prosecutors indicted William Boukissen II on a charge of felonious assault.
“I’m just speechless because I’m so happy that finally something is being done,” Allen said. “He intentionally threw that can. I mean, anybody that looks at that video can tell he intentionally did it. Now, I can hopefully try to pursue him to try to pay all my medical bills.”
The new charge was filed days after what happened in the stands last Sunday. A fan threw a bottle of water after the Browns blew a big lead, and the bottle hit team owner Jimmy Haslam.
That sparked national headlines and another investigation.
The I-Team obtained video of the suspect getting booked into the county jail. County records show he spent more than 24 hours locked up until he was released with no charges. However, he remains under investigation.
The city prosecutors office would not answer questions about it for the I-Team on Wednesday.
For months, it looked like no charges would be filed for the assault on Allen, but now, Cuyahoga County prosecutors have taken the case to a grand jury for an indictment.
Lexi Giering issued a statement for the office, saying, The grand jury returned an indictment charging the defendant (or Mr. Boukissen) with one count of felonious assault. Today, the citizens of Cuyahoga County reiterated this type of behavior will not be tolerated.”
Allen is grateful for the chance, at last, to get justice.
“He needs to be able to deal with the consequences of his actions. To be honest with you, I never thought this day was going to come,” she said.
We tried reaching the suspect for one of our previous stories and he did not return a message. He will go to Cuyahoga County Court soon to begin defending himself.
